Chisinau (AFP)
Liverpool clinched its second victory in the Europa League, after defeating Saint-Geloise of Belgium 2-0, in the second round of the tournament, which witnessed a conceded victory from Marseille of France, drawing with Brighton of England 2-2.
At Anfield, the Reds strengthened their lead in the group, after achieving their second continental victory, after defeating Austria’s LASK Linz 3-1 in the first round, so that German coach Jurgen Klopp’s team regained its balance, after losing to Tottenham 1-2 at the top of the English Premier League. .
Despite its loss, Liverpool remained only two points behind Manchester City, the defending champion and top of the Premier League standings, and one point behind Tottenham and Arsenal, who occupy second and third places, respectively.
Liverpool’s two goals were scored by Dutchman Ryan Gravenberch (44), the first goal of the 21-year-old player in the Liverpool jersey, which he joined in the summer, and Portuguese Diogo Jota (92), putting the Reds at the top of Group E, two points ahead of French club Toulouse, which won over LASK 1- zero.
French Marseille, led by its new Italian coach, Gennaro Gattuso, suffered a new setback, after losing a two-goal lead, drawing against its English guest, Brighton, 2-2, in the second group.
At the Velodrome Stadium, the French team took the lead with two goals, within a minute, through Chancel Mbemba from the Democratic Republic of Congo (19) and Jordan Veretout (20), but the visitors equalized the score in the second half, through German Pascal Gross (54) and Brazilian Joao Pedro. 88 from a penalty kick.”
The result allowed the Greek AEK Athens to take the lead, despite its draw against the Dutch Ajax Amsterdam 1-1, as the former benefited from its victory in the first round over Brighton, to occupy first place with four points, in a remarkable surprise, after two rounds had passed, while Marseille and Ajax were tied in second place. And third with two points, ahead of Brighton, fourth with one point.
The homeowners thought they were on their way to an easy win after taking a two-goal lead. The first came through Mbemba, after a team game, which was initiated by Jonathan Clos and the Argentine Joaquin Correa with an exchange of balls, before the ball reached the Congolese Mbemba, who shot it with his right into the goal “19”, before the ball reached the goal. The second comes in the immediately following attack via Verito “20”.
But the visitors, who have the best offensive record in the English Premier League, responded strongly in the second half, first with a goal by German Gross (54), who brought his team back into the match atmosphere, before Pedro scored a fatal goal from a penalty kick two minutes before the end of regular time, after a mistake by Kloss. On Ghanaian Tariq Lamptey.
Marseille is not going through its best condition this season in the French League either, as it occupies 12th place with nine points from 7 matches, which led to the resignation of its former Spanish coach Marcelino and the appointment of Gattuso as his successor.
Roma achieved a major victory over Swiss Servette by four at the Olympic Stadium.
The goals for the capital team were scored by Belgian Romelu Lukaku (22), Andrea Belotti (46 and 59), and Lorenzo Pellegrini (52).
This is Roma’s second victory, placing it in second place with six points, equal to Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic, who defeated Sherif of Moldova 5-0.
Likewise, German Bayer Leverkusen continued its fiery performances this season, beating Norwegian Molde 2-1. The German team owes its victory to Dutchman Jeremy Frimpong (14) and Englishman Nathan Tella (18), while Molde’s only goal was scored by Emil Breivik (87).
Within the first group, English West Ham maintained its clean record, beating its German host, Freiburg, 2-1, to lead the group with six points.
In the third group, Real Betis of Spain defeated Sparta Prague of Czech Republic 2-1, while Limassol of Cyprus defeated Rangers of Scotland 2-1 in a group in which the four teams have 3 points.
Italian Atalanta also strengthened its position at the top of Group D, by defeating its host Sporting of Portugal 2-1.
Spain’s Villarreal snatched its first win in the competition, defeating France’s Rennes 1-0.
Greek Panathinaikos occupies the lead in the group with four points, after drawing with Israeli Maccabi Haifa without goals, with 4 points, ahead of Villarreal II and Betis III with 3 points.
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